Composition for removing hair from the skin



UNITED STATES P TENT Orrion.

JACOB MELLINGER, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

COMPOSITION FOR REMOVING HAIR FROM THE SKIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 520,005, dated May 15, 1894.

I Application filed February 1'7, 1894. Serial No. 500,559. (No specimens.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AOOB MELLINGER, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Bal- I by declare the following to be a full, clear, and

exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of the present invention is to produce a composition by the application of which to the human corpses the hair can be thoroughly and quickly removed without in jury to the skin and without the employment of a razor. This composition is more especially designed for use in removing hair from the faces of the human dead. Heretofore it has been the universal custom to mechanically remove the hair from the face of the human dead bythe lather and razor, but this method is open to serious objections, chief among which is the time consumed in the operation, the liability to transmit disease, if a person has died of a contagious disease, as the hands and implement are neizessarily brought into I contact with the person of the dead, and if the face is to be shaved (as in most cases) it is quite difficult to successfully perform the task owing to the fact that the flesh and skin are soft and shrunken. My composition is a semi-liquid having the consistency of a sirup which can be easily applied by a sponge or brushwithoutsprayin g orsca-ttering overother parts than to those to which it is intended to apply the composition, and after it has re mained on the skin for a period of four or five minutes, the composition is washed off with cool water and removes with it any and all hair which has been subjected to the action of the depilatory while applied to the skin. In my present liquid composition I combine with a depilatory agent consisting of one of the sulphides, such as sulphide of strontium, a certain quantity of boroglyceride and carbolic acid solution together with a suitable vehicle or base which unites the aforesaid ingredients. The boroglyceride serves the important purpose of mechanically preventing cont-act'of the depilatory with the 5 skin and of chemically rendering such depilatory inactive at the point of contact with the skin while allowing it to freely perform its function of removing the hair within a few minutes time. The boroglyceride which I use in this composition is obtained by heating ninety-two parts of pure glyceriue to a temperature of 302 Fahrenheit, and gradu ally adding sixty-two parts of finely pulverized boracic acid; water vapor escapes during the operation. The process is completed when no more loss of weight takes place, and the resulting product dissolves readily in water of ordinary temperature. The water of evaporation amounts to somewhat more than one third of the volume of the substances used. Boroglyceride, when cold, is solid, brittle and transparent, of a light yellow color and lustrous fracture.

and in five parts of alcohol at 122 Fahrenheit, and it is insoluble in ether and chloroform at ordinary temperature. This ingredient, boroglyceride, is an excellent agent for preserving anatomical preparations, as it prevents putrefaction. The carbolic acid solution arrests putrefaction and decaying of the skin and thus prevents, indirectly, the discoloration of the skin at the point of contact of the composition therewith. As a vehicle for the chemical agents, I prefer to employ a solution of amylum which serves to impart to the composition a sirup-like or creanrlike consistency, and to enable the composition to be easily and freely applied by a sponge or brush without spraying or spattering on different parts of the body which it is desired to be kept free from the influence of the composition. Although I prefer to employ this solution of amylum or starch, yet I do not strictly limit myself to the use of such ingredients in my composition, nor do I strictly limit myself to the use of the sul phide of strontium as the depilatory agent, as I am aware that other sulphides may be used, such for example as. barium sulphide, calcium sulphide, iron sulphide or sodium sulphide.

It is readily soluble in water, only slightly soluble in cold alcohol,

My composition consists of the following ingredients in substantially the proportions named, to wit:

' Parts. (1) a twenty per cent. solution of strontium sulphide 4O (2) a ten percent. solution of boroglyceride Y 40 (3) a ten per cent. solution of amylum in water; 1O (4.) a twenty-five per cent. solution of carbolic acid 10 These ingredients are all placed together in a suitable vessel, with or without ethereal oil as a perfume, and they are mechanically agitated to cause them to combine, the amylum solution serving as the vehicle or base by which the chemical agents are held together, and producing a semi-liquid of the consistency of a sirup.

.The method of using my composition is very simple. The sirup like mixture is applied to the skin by means of a brush, sponge, or other agent, and it is allowed to remain on the skin for a period of four or five minutes, when the skin is washed with cool Water to remove the hair and composition. It has been found that the sulphide depilatory agent acts very quickly to remove the hair from the skin, but this agent is mechanically prevented from attecting the skin at the point of contact by the chemical action of the boro glyceride solution, and the carbolic acid solution operates, indirectly, to prevent discoloration of the skin at the point of contact by arresting the putrefaction or decaying of the skin.

Any suitable ethereal oil may be incorporated in the composition as a perfume in order to relieve the compound of the pungent odor of the sulphide solution and carbolic acid solution, such for example as'oil of lavender or oil of citronella, but these peculiar oils are not essential and can be varied at pleasure.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A composition for removing hair from the human skin having boroglyceride incorporated with a sulphide depilatory agent and a suitable vehicle, as and for the purposes described. I

2. A composition for removing hair from the human skin having boroglyceride and a carbolic acid solution incorporated with a sulphide depilatory agent and a suitable vehicle, as and for the purposes described.

3. A composition for removing hair from the human skin consisting of a sulphide depilatory agent, boroglyceride, carbolic acid and an amylum solution as a vehicle, as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JACOB MELLINGER.

Witnesses:

H. S. DULANEY, O. O. HALL. 

